Workouts are working out here (and I visited a 29’er)

I was concerned, coming here to work and knowing that I’d be running around a lot for several weeks, that I wouldn’t be able to work out. Thus far, I’m not working out to my usual levels, but I don’t think I’ll lose too much fitness while I’m here. I got here last Tuesday, spent Wednesday getting over jet lag, and went running Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’ll probably go running in a little while today, too. On Saturday the muscles under my calves were too sore for running, so I did 500 kicks on the porch here instead.

I just checked (thanks, Mapmyfitness.com) – my shortest run was about 2.5 miles, and the longest one, yesterday, was about 4 miles (to the national park then around the paved road 3 2/3 times. Each day, I’ve walked enough to get up to a total of about 5 miles, and most days I’ve also walked somewhere later on – another couple of miles. My legs seem to be ok with the minimalist running (Merrell Pace Glove shoes). They’re sore while I run, but fine afterwards and the next day before I run.

I’ve enjoyed walking more than I do at home, too. The very nice Austrian researcher who is also staying at the same house as me keeps offering to drive me places, and I keep declining because I’d rather walk.

I got a ride into Jerusalem on Tuesday, and went to the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, where I lived for most of a year. When I walked up to the courtyard, I immediately saw friends from digs. One of them, Jay, is a mountain biker, and it was nice to be around someone who didn’t think I was crazy for my mtb habit. He offered last month to take me out for a bike ride (his wife has an appropriately sized mountain bike for me) while I’m here, and I’m definitely going to take him up on it when I’m in Jerusalem! (I think he liked it that someone was finally there whose answer to “Do you want to see my bike,” was “Yeah!” He just got a new bike – a 29’er hardtail – as an early birthday present for himself. His wife’s bike is a full-suspension bike, which will be new for me, too. I’m hoping it has clipless pedals, too.

I went to a capoeira training on Wednesday. After walking for an hour (45 minutes to get there, plus 15 minutes looking for an entrance) I made it to a training for CDO Ashkelon, a group that just recently started offering classes for adults. It was a beginner class, but he paired me up to train with the other person who had a belt (yellow-orange), and it was just fun to be training capoeira. I had the impression that I seemed threatening to the two people there with the most skill (besides the teacher) until they found out that I’m only here for a few weeks. They became more friendly then. The guy I was training with apologized for doing takedowns in a training, though that was part of the training. He is apparently not used to training take downs. The people all were very nice, and even drove me back to the dig lab, saving me another 40 minutes of walking.

I’m not sure where I’ll be staying in Jerusalem (in 2 weeks), but I think I will be able to run most mornings, ride at least once, and make it to a couple of capoeira trainings with their CDO group, too.

This is MUCH better than I expected. Yay!!!

(And one of these days, I really will make it to the beach… maybe….) 🙂